Johannesburg - The Home Affairs Department is being slapped with about
50 cases of litigation on a weekly basis, deputy director-general for
institutional planning and support Thulani Mavuso said.


Now the department is hiring legally qualified people who will be
placed in the directorates of immigration affairs and civic services
to monitor and act quickly on litigation-related issues.


“On a weekly basis we have to respond and instruct state attorneys to
defend matters. Some of them are opportunistic litigations,” Mavuso
said.


He made the comments after department offices in Mbombela, Mpumalanga,
were closed when the sheriff of the court attached its goods last
month.


This was after a foreign national took the department to court for
wrongful arrest and was granted a default judgment of R150 000, which
the department is now seeking to rescind.


It has been reported in the past how the department wasted millions in
taxpayers’ money on court battles.


The department had revealed in a parliamentary reply that it spent
R46.3 million on legal costs in 2011/2012, and R21.3m was spent in the
previous financial year.


In 2014, out of 404 judgments that were granted by the courts, 385
were made against the detentions of illegal foreigners at the Lindela
Repatriation Centre in Krugersdorp or failed asylum seekers who filed
judicial reviews against such rejections.


Mavuso said there were instances where people fly into OR Tambo
International Airport, only to be met by lawyers, ready to take the
department

to court.


“It is quite bad in a sense that those opportunistic litigations,
actually in the area of immigration, are quite huge,” Mavuso
said.


“The same applies when people are arrested for fraudulent documents or
documents that are invalid and then taken to Lindela,” he added.
“You have lawyers who make Lindela a hunting ground for those cases,”
he said.


Mavuso also said the high volume of litigation was creating huge
administrative issues in the department.


“People use the law to say these are their constitutional rights and
we need to defend the cases. Sometimes we defend things which are
actually a waste of money.”


Deputy director-general for civic services Vusumuzi Mkhize said the
capacity of the department was being strengthened.
“We recently created posts for the core business in immigration and
civic to have a legal person to deal with any matter relating to
ligation,” Mkhize said.


When the department presented its budget to Parliament earlier this
year, it noted the lack of capacity in its legal services, risk
management, information services, financial management and counter
corruption and security services.


Its 2017/18 annual performance plan said there was a phased
restructuring of staff according to a plan proposed by a consulting
firm to increase the proportion of specialists and prioritise
posts.


Political Bureau V.2000

One of the highlighted topics: Critical Skills Visa.

- Key Insight: Is your profession on the Critical Skills List? This visa is your fast track to working in South Afr...
- This matter relates to critical skills visa and its broader implications.
- Individuals are advised to seek professional guidance.

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One of the applicants, Phindile Mazibuko, became a victim of identity theft in 2012 when fraudulent transactions occurred, using her personal details.

-The Pretoria High Court found that the department of home affairs had violated constitutional rights without due process.
-Only half of Lawyers for Human Rights` test group has been unblocked, while 385 000 identities remain blocked nationwide.
-LHR appeals extension, urges affected people to seek help now.

Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) are intensifying pressure on the department of home affairs over the national ID-blocking crisis, accusing the state of acting too slowly to unblock qualifying individuals despite a landmark court ruling.

In January last year, the Pretoria High Court found that the department`s practice of blocking IDs without due process was unlawful and unconstitutional. One of the applicants, Phindile Mazibuko, a Swati citizen and South African permanent resident since 1998, fell victim to identity theft in 2012 when fraudsters used her personal details.

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The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6128
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The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6129
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A Washington state mother and her 6-year-old son have been released after spending more than three weeks in US immigration detention due to a brief trip to Canada and a small paperwork mistake, her attorney told CNN on Saturday.

Sarah Shaw, a New Zealand citizen who has lived legally in the US since she arrived in 2021, was detained at the Blaine, Washington, Customs and Border Protection checkpoint when returning home after dropping her two oldest children off at the Vancouver airport for a flight to visit their grandparents in New Zealand. Shaw, 33, chose the flight out of Vancouver because it was direct and she didn`t want her children to have to navigate a layover alone, her attorney Minda Thorward, told CNN.

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On 22 July 2025, the Gauteng High Court dismissed Sitrusrand Boerdery`s review of the Department of Employment and Labour`s refusal to issue a Working Conditions and Salary Benchmarking Certificate, an essential precondition for obtaining corporate visas under the Immigration Act.

Acting Judge Kekana AJ held that the Department`s decision was lawful, rational and procedurally fair. This judgment illustrates how businesses can - and must - structure their corporate visa applications to meet statutory requirements, and how legal practitioners should prepare robust review challenges when administrative authorities decline to recommend foreign-work permits.

 V.6131
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The United States could forfeit an estimated 9.4 billion dollars in visitor spending over the next three years following the introduction of a new 250 dollars `visa integrity fee,` according to industry groups, who warn the policy risks undermining tourism and costing thousands of jobs.
The United States’ decision to introduce a 250 dollars `visa integrity fee` on international visitors has triggered sharp criticism from the global tourism industry, with officials warning that the measure could deter millions of travellers and cost the U.S. economy billions.
The 250dollar `visa integrity fee,` part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act signed on July 4, 2025, will take effect later this year. According to immigration law firm Envoy Global, it applies to all nonimmigrant visa holders which include students, tourists, temporary workers, and business visitors particularly from African countries. V.6132
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The Border Management Authority (BMA) has doubled its staff at Airports in South Africa , including immigration officers.

What does this mean for travelers? V.6127
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1. Right to Legal Representation•You have the right to consult with a legal representative.•Contact an immigration practitioner, legal aid clinic, or attorney urgently.•Do not sign any documents without understanding them fully. 2. Section 34 of the Immigration Act•You must be brought to court with 48 hours to confirm arrest but you can remain locked up very long as courts figure out what to do with you •If you`re found to be illegally in South Africa, you may be detained for up to 30 days (extendable by a magistrate) pending deportation.•BUT this cannot happen arbitrarily. You must be informed of your rights, and Home Affairs must follow due process.- becomes a nightmare , you could lose your job , business , place to stay V.6121
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Driving for Bolt, Uber, Mr D, or Checkers Sixty60?If you`re undocumented, you`re risking more than just your income.The Risks if You`re Not Legal: - Vehicle impoundment - Heavy fines - Arrest & deportation - Permanent bans from working in SA V.6122
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